Breaking: Arsenal beat Liverpool to sign Vida

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Arsenal are trying to hijack Liverpool’s proposed move to sign Domagoj Vida after tabling their own bid for the £30m-rated Besiktas defender, according to reports in Turkey via TeamTalk.

Vida only joined Besiktas in January following five years at Dinamo Kiev but he’s already being linked with a move this summer after playing a key role in helping Croatia reach their first ever World Cup final before they eventually lost out to France earlier this month.

The 29-year-old’s excellent performances in Russia have caught the eye of several Premier League clubs with the Daily Star reporting that West Ham, Everton and Liverpool have all expressed their interest in bringing Vida to England this summer.

The newspaper claimed that Liverpool chiefs were due to fly-out to Istanbul this week to hold face-to-face talks with Besiktas officials in order to try and thrash out a deal after seeing an opening £20m offer rejected.

Jurgen Klopp is being tipped to sign another centre-back as doubts continue over Dejan Lovren while Joel Matip has suffered yet another injury setback in pre-season so the Liverpool boss is seemingly eyeing Vida as the man to partner Virgil van Dijk at Anfield.

However, it looks like Arsenal are trying to hijack their proposed move as TeamTalk are citing a report from Milliyet that claims the Gunners have now submitted their own bid for Vida – although the Turkish newspaper doesn’t state what Arsenal’s offer is worth.

Unai Emery has already strengthened his defensive options this summer with the arrival of Sokratis from Borussia Dortmund but it appears the Spaniard wants to bring in another central defender this summer.

Laurent Koscielny is facing months out following Achilles surgery, Per Mertesacker has retired and Shkodran Mustafi has been a disappointment since arriving from Valencia so Emery could be looking to create a new pairing in the middle of his back four with Vida alongside Sokratis.

We’ll have to wait and see how things develop but the report suggests that Besiktas value Vida at £30m so Arsenal and Liverpool are going to have to dig deep if they want to get a deal agreed.